“If you’ve ever driven across Texas, you know how different one area of the
state can be from another. Take El Paso. It looks as much like Dallas as I look
like Jack Nicklaus.”  Lee Trevino

CBS News and other sources report that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz latest parliamentary maneuver has backfired yet again.  The Senate’s leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell had reached an agreement to let the clock run over the weekend without the Senate being in session and vote Monday on the appropriations bill to keep the government functioning.  Cruz had another idea and objected to the spending bill which required the Senate to hold a Sunday session.  Cruz’s maneuver was clearly intended to play to his base by highlighting his claim of illegal action by Pres. Obama on immigration.  Such tactics will obviously play well in the Republican primaries but his colleagues in Washington on both sides of the aisle were unimpressed. They were understandably upset with losing a weekend at this time of the year, but the bigger problem for Cruz was the unintended consequences of his action.  The extra days of session allowed the Democrats to move forward with 24 of Pres. Obama’s nominees for judicial and administrative posts before the Republicans take control of the Senate in January.  These included at least four controversial nominees who will now likely be confirmed thanks to Cruz’s ploy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/three-obama-nominees-who-may-now-be-confirmed-thanks-to-ted-cruz/

Photo from http://www.politico.com

“They say that Virginia is the mother of Texas. We never knew who the father was, but we kinda suspected Tennessee.” – Tex Ritter

The Dallas Morning News Reports that the rifle used by UT Tower sniper Charles Whitman to kill 16 people and wound 32 more in August of 1966 is now on display at the Crime Museum in Washington, D.C.

“The Remington Model 700 rifle that Whitman used in the attack is on display at the Crime Museum in Washington D.C. Museum officials tout the acquisition as a valuable and educational addition to their collection. But victims of the attack like Claire Wilson James don’t understand displaying a macabre reminder of a horrific event.

“What kind of person wants to go and look at it?”, she said. “Why does somebody want to go look at something that did so much evil?”  Wilson James grew up in Dallas and is now a retired schoolteacher in Texarkana. She was 18 years old and eight months pregnant at the time of the attack. Whitman shot her in the stomach, killing her unborn child.

Janine Vaccarello, the museum’s chief operating officer, said that displaying the rifle furthers the museum’s mission of educating people about the history of crime and law enforcement.”

Red lived in Austin back then and his father left a travel agency on the Drag only a few minutes before Whitman began his heinous slaughter of innocents.  Red repeats, “Really?”

Image from and full story at  http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/dc-museum-displays-ut-tower-shooters-rifle.html/

Texas Monthly has awarded Sen. Wendy Davis its annual Bum Steer of the Year award. In making the award, the magazine wrote “But nothing, and we mean nothing, could match the train wreck that was Wendy Davis, Battleground Texas, and the Democrats.”

Texas Tribune reporter Colin McDonald and photographer Erich Schlegel have been on a more than 150 day expedition to follow the Rio Grande from its source in Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico at Boca Chica.  You can follow the expedition at http://riogrande.texastribune.org/2014/06/19/why-follow-rio-grande/ 

Photo from http://www.bigbendchat.com

Texas GOP Vote reports that U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) issued the following statement after Democrats on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released their report on enhanced interrogation techniques employed by the nation’s intelligence community.  Red has translated it for you.

“This report is troubling (politically devastating for the Republican Party) for a variety of reasons (mostly its truthfulness), most of which are not found in its pages (but which are probably contained in the full unreleased report). Enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) employed by members of our intelligence community (American torturers) saved (that’s my position and I’m sticking with it despite the evidence) American lives (maybe just maybe someday I can tell you how), and Senate Democrats (communists and/or terrorist sympathizers) should thank these brave (it takes a lot of nerve to water board a completely defenseless man)  men and women (torturers) who worked to protect us (torture a bunch of folks) – not vilify them (tell the truth about their actions).  I cannot think (you could have stopped there Sen. Cornyn) of a greater disservice to our men and women serving in the military (or to the Republican Party) and in our intelligence field (some of whom are torturers) than to hand terror groups like ISIL (or the Democrats) another recruiting tool and excuse (based on verifiable facts) to target them (by telling the truth about how the Bush Presidency violated every principal upon which our nation is founded). Due to the political calculations of some (those terrorist sympathizing Democrats again), the American people (and especially the Republican Party) and our allies across the globe (who have condemned us) are less safe today than they were before (mostly because everyone now can feel free to follow our example and torture people when they feel like it) .”

Everybody’s favorite holiday whipping boy is the much-maligned traditional fruitcake.  Well, Red for one is not ashamed to admit that he likes fruitcake – in fact, likes it a lot.  So if you have one that you don’t want, send it my way. But  if you agree with Red and are in the market for the best fruitcake made in America, find your way over to the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana.   https://www.collinstreet.com/

They could use your business having been the target of a massive embezzlement by their trusted corporate controller Sandy Jenkins.  Jenkins, who pleaded guilty earlier this year, stole over $16 million using his ill-gotten gains to purchase a home in Santa Fe, expensive jewelry, luxury cars and to pay for lavish vacations.  The company was slow to catch on to Jenkins’ massive swindling.  The discovery came to light when a newly hired employee noticed irregularities in some of the payments made.  The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an excellent article on Jenkins’ bold thievery.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/03/11/5640532/feds-iconic-east-texas-bakery.html

After being found guilty for the murder of Cynthia McLelland the wife of slain Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, the jury now will determine if former Justice of the Peace Eric Williams will receive life in prison or the death penalty.  The murders of McLelland and his wife in March of 2013 were part of a plot of revenge hatched by the former jurist who lost his JP bench after being convicted of stealing a county computer.  He is also accused of killing assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse outside of the Kaufman County Courthouse in January of 2013.

ABC News reports:

“An assistant prosecutor shouted “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” in the moments before a gunman bent on revenge shot him repeatedly last year in North Texas, according to testimony in the punishment phase of the capital murder trial of a former justice of the peace. 

The jury began hearing testimony Monday to determine whether Eric Williams, 47, should receive life in prison or the death penalty for the March 2013 killing of Cynthia McLelland, the wife of slain Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. The couple was found dead in their home east of Dallas.

But prosecutors Monday turned their attention to the death of assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse, whom Williams is charged with killing in January 2013. Testimony is set to resume on Tuesday. ‘You will see the patterns of his anti-social behavior and his violent tendencies,” prosecutor Bill Wirskye said while standing near Williams. “You will get a glimpse inside and see what lies beneath this facade of normalcy.'”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/penalty-phase-begins-texas-justice-peace-27441042